


Love and Freckles

by TibbieJaeger



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Character Death, Love, Multi, Possible Character Death, Romance, Yaoi, maybe yuri, possible "scenes" later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-13
Updated: 2014-03-18
Packaged: 2018-01-15 14:16:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1307827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TibbieJaeger/pseuds/TibbieJaeger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story of how two men met and how they fell in love. ( I'm terrible with summaries, but I hope you enjoy! )</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Past

It seemed like years since Jean had been here. It seemed like he let his lover down, by not visiting him. But he was here now, and that’s all that mattered. He let his cane fall as he went down on one knee in front of the stone and rested a wrinkled hand on the smooth surface. Jean reached up and removed his hat and placed it on the ground beside him. He balding head and white hair were a sign of a long happy life. A long happy life he spent with his lover. The stone before him said, Marco Kirschstein, 1926-2012. A beloved man and the power to bring anyone together. Jean smiled as he placed a red rose on the stone and grabbed his cane, rising shakily.   
“Grandpa! Is that Grandpa Marco?!” A voice called behind him.   
Jean turned to see a older boy with a younger boy walking up to him. One of them had messy black hair with a spray of freckled across his face and the younger one and an elongated face with mousy brown and blonde hair. The old man smiled as the stopped before him and looked at the stone with the rose on it. He nodded, “Yep.. This was your Grandpa Marco.”   
The eldest boy smiled and looked down at the younger boy, “Yea..You probably don’t remember much about Grandpa Marco, Axel. You were young when he passed.”   
Axel puffed his cheek out and looked up at the older boy, “I remember him! He’d always give me candy and money when I was good!”   
Jean chuckled at the two as he grabbed his hat and plopped it on Axel’s head. “You remind me of myself when I was your age, Axel. It seems years ago, but I always had your spunk.”   
Axel giggled, “Yea!”   
The eldest boy looked at his grandfather, “How did you and Grandpa Marco meet? You've never told us the story. I’ve always been rather interested in how.”   
Jean stared as his grandson before giving him a smile, “Well...Since you’re here for a little bit of the summer, I guess now would be a good time to tell you the story. I got nothing better to do. I’ll tell you over some sandwiches. How’s that sound?”   
The boys nodded and walked after their grandfather to the old truck that Jean had, had for years. Even getting in the truck brought back many memories of Marco. The roar of the engine, mixed with the laughter of Marco as Jean was shot with black muck and smoke. To Marco crying about his mother’s death. Everything reminded him of Marco. Driving down the country road and looking to his right, he could still picture Marco with his head resting in his arms and a smiled on his face as the wind blew through his dark hair. Everything around Jean had some remembrance of Marco on them. Sometimes he would even smell his scent in the bed, or in the truck at random moments.   
Jean turned on a dirt road and to a old, white house. It was a two story house with an antique kind of look to it. Him and Marco had chosen it together. It was the fourth house they’d lived together in. They had gotten tired of the city life and wanted a place where there was plenty of country and fresh air. They’d chosen it right after they found out Marco had cancer. The doctor had told them that the best thing for Marco was fresh air.   
Pulling into the driveway and in front of the house, Axel crawled out of the truck and ran to the porch, “C’mon Grandpa! I wanna know the rest of the story!!”   
Jean chuckled as the eldest assisted him out of the truck, “Thank you, Max.”   
MAx looked to his younger brother, “Hold on Axel! Grandpa isn't as young as he used to be!” Jean laughed aloud and closed the door behind him as he and Max made their way to the porch, “That may be true, but this old man still makes a mean roast beef sandwich.”   
Max smiled at him and helped him up as Axel ran in kicking his shoes off excitedly.   
“Calm down now, Axel, we’re going to make the sandwiches and then sit down, okay?” Jean chuckled as he hobbled to the kitchen. Max followed after and got cups out of the cabinet. Pulling them out, he poured soda in them and set them on the table.   
After a few moments, Jean had the sandwiches done and set them on the table next to cups of soda. “Alright boys! Wash up and come eat!”   
The sound of running water and arguing on who would sit where and who would finish their sandwiches first. Jean smiled and walked to his chair as he pulled it out and sat down. Looking up, he could still see Marco sitting across from him, a goofy smile on his face and telling him about how he was. Jean extended his hand as the Marco he was seeing before him did the same. His fingers brushed Marco’s as a voice broke, “Grandpa… Are you alright?”   
Jean blinked out of his trance and looked at his grandchild standing there. Hit hat still on Axel’s head and a concerned look on his face. “Axel you left wa-... Grandpa? You okay?”   
Max looked just as concerned and Jean stared at the eldest grandson. It was just like a reflection of Marco before him. “Yea.. I’m alright. Come and sit down boys, and i’ll start the story about when we first met.”   
The boys did so and looked to their grandfather as he inhaled with a smile, “I’ll never forget the day I first saw your grandfather… I didn’t think much of him at first.. But after we worked together for a while… There was something there that i’d never felt before.” 

 

\- Flashback - Part 1 

“Jean! Move it!” A voice called after him. Jean turned to see Eren walking toward him with two trays full of milkshakes, burgers and fries. Ducking down, Eren swung over his head and started toward the table filled with some kids about Jean’s age. Jean was 17 and this was his second job since he’d been 15. He was working for a steel industry, but his mother was scared for him and pulled him out. Now he was here working as a waiter at Levi’s Diner. It paid good and he was satisfied with most of the people he worked with. Besides that stupid Jaeger kid.   
He didn't really mind his adopted sister, though. Although she was a bit out of his league. Not only in the world, but also in the work place. She was the assistant manager and one of the most popular girls in school. And he wasn't necessarily “unpopular” but he wasn’t popular. He was in the middle. He went around the tables, collecting empty plate and half full cups of milkshakes. Placing them in the empty bin, he looked up to see a young man riding a bike toward the diner. He wore a black fedora with a white button up shirt and vest and tie. He was standing on his bike pedaling, as though he was in a hurry. His black slacks had a hint of dust on him as he hopped off the bike and pulled it to the side of the diner.   
The male appeared at the door and walked in, his black shoes covered in dust as he removed his hat to reveal his dark hair and a spray of freckles across his face. His hazel eyes scanning the diner as he scratched his head. Jean turned to go back in the kitchen as Eren approached the man. “Hi. May I help you?”  
“Ah! Right! I’m looking for a man by the name of, Levi! I’m interested in applying for a job here!”   
Eren threw the towel he was holding over his shoulder as he smiled, “Alright.. Please follow me.”   
The freckled male nodded and started after Eren as he snuck a glance at Jean who had looked up through the window. Jean raised an eyebrow and turned to the sink to start washing dishes. A small blonde boy came up by him and set some more dishes in the sink, “Sorry to do that to ya Jean.”  
Jean chuckled and looked to the small boy, “Ah… don’t worry about it Armin. I’ve had worse. Plus you’re not like Eren who purposely saves up dishes for me to wash.   
Armin chuckled and fixed his ponytail as he turned away and started out to the dining area. Jean got the water going and started washing the dishes.   
A few minutes went by when Jean heard a voice behind him, “Jean! Levi needs you in his office.” He turned to see a small blonde girl with a tray of burgers and shakes on her tray. A smile came across her friendly face as she turned and headed toward the dining area. Jean sighed and turned the water off and dried his hands on the towel hooked on his waist. Walking to Levis door, he knocked and waited for a response.   
“Come in, Jean.” a voice called from inside. Jean opened the door and made his way in. The sudden thought of the new kid and him being called into Levi’s office, caused him to have a sudden thought of maybe this would be Jean’s last day working here. Damn that kid for taking his spot… He really needed this job.   
“You needed me Sir?” Jean asked, then realizing how stupid that sounded. Of course he needed to see him, why else would Levi call him in here?   
“Please sit.” He said gesturing to a seat that was next to the guy, Jean had seen walking in. The guy that could possibly taking this much needed job away from him. Taking the seat, he looked at Levi, not making even an attempt to look at the guy sitting next to him. Honestly, is twisted his stomach to know that this bastard was sitting by him.   
“Jean.. You’ve worked with me for a long time, I've seen you busting your ass all day long six days a week. You come from school and get right to work, so I must commend you for that.”   
“He’s making this a lot harder than it needs to be…” Jean thought.  
“Yeah! And it’s been a true honor to work here, Sir!” God he sounded lame… It was just a diner. He could just simply get another job. So why was he making such a big deal?   
Levi gave him a nod, the same bored expression plastered on his face. Jean started sweating, sweating very bad. Like a friend of his.   
“Alright, well I just want to inform you of your promotion.”   
Jeans heart stopped. Promotion? What? Why was he being promoted?! And promoted to what?!   
“You’ll be promoted to head chef of the diner. It’s not much, but since the last cook had to go for college, I figure I’d choose another hard working employee to take over and mentor over the new employee.” Levi said motioning to the young man sitting next to JEan.   
The guy had a weird smiled on his face. Jean raised an eyebrow and stared at him for a moment before hearing Levi’s break his thought on the male.   
“Well… Jean. Are you going to take the job?”   
Jean shook his head to get out of his thought bubble and nodded, “Yes Sir! Thank you Sir! I really appreciate it! I really couldn’t thank you enough! I’d be happy to mentor! Thank you again Sir!”  
Jean finished the sentence by getting up and reaching his hand out to the smaller male, who actually looked like he smirked and took Jean’s hand, shaking it back.   
“You’re welcome, Jean. Just don’t let me down, okay?”   
Jean shook his head, “Never in a million years, Sir!”   
Levi nodded and nodded toward the door, “Now go and get to work on training. I’ve got work to do, as well as you.”   
Jean nodded and turned to walk out. The freckled man that had been sitting next to Jean, turned and smiled at Levi, “Thank you again Sir! I won’t let you down!”   
Levi gave him a nod and looked down to the pile of papers on his desk.


	2. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean showing Marco the ropes

\- Part 2 -   
Upon leaving Levi’s office a voice came from behind Jean.   
“Um.. Thank you for doing this!”  
He turned to see the freckled man holding his hat in front of him and smiling at him, he looked like a young child looking up at Jean.  
“Um you’re welcome. Don’t mention it.” Jean said turning to walk to the kitchen.   
“Your name is Jean, right?” He asked.   
Once again, Jean turned to face the male, “Um yes..”   
“Ah well! My name is Marco! Marco Bodt!” The boy chimed and held his hand out to Jean.  
Jean stared at his hand before reaching over slowly and taking it. They shook hands quickly and separated.   
“Well I suppose you could folle me and I’ll show you the basic ropes of the kitchen. It’s not too hard. Although you’ll probably start with just taking orders and washing dishes.”   
A look came across Marco’s face, a look of doubt came across his face as Jean chuckled, “Don’t worry. I’ve been working here for almost two years and I still have to wash dishes. You’ll get used to it.”   
Marco looked at Jean with a smile and nodded, “Right! I’ll remember that.”  
\- Part Three - 

The workday went by slowly, mostly because Jean was training Marco, and when it came to working with trainees, it usually took them some time to know what did what and who did what. For now Marco was just going to be cleaning dishes and making the occasional milkshake. Other than that, Marco did a good job on his first day of training. Jean figured it wouldn’t take him long to get the hang of everything around here. Well, it’s not like they were working in a science lab or everything.   
But, Levi liked his diner cleaned a certain way and taken care of. Which meant some people ad to stay after and take care of the diner. Tonight as a part of training, it happened to be Marco and Jean. They were currently working on mopping up the greasy floors in the kitchen. After they finished that, they’d be able to leave.   
“Just make sure the mop is not too soaked, otherwise the floor won’t dry by the morning. Trust me, Jaeger had to learn the hard way.” Jean said soaking his mop again and going back to the floor.   
Marco chuckled, “It sounds like Eren has had quite a few close moments in this establishment.”   
Jean shrugged, “I guess you could say that. But Levi is used to mistakes, so if something happens, it happens. He’s not too strict on the whole idea of punishment.”   
Levi of course had standards, but he wasn’t the one to go around and start yelling at people to get it done. If he did that, then he’d probably lose a lot of workers which meant a loss of business. And Levi didn’t want to risk his loss of temper to the loss of his diner. There was really no point at all.   
“So how long have you worked here?” Marco asked wringing out the mop he was using.   
Jean looked at him with an eyebrow raised, “About a year in a half. I’ve been here the longest out of all these people.”   
“That doesn’t seem like a very long time, though.”   
“Yea, well this establishment isn’t very old. It’s only been around for about three years.”   
Marco nodded, “Yeah I figured that’s why it’s still so popular. This is the hangout spot that everyone talks about.”   
Jean gave him a nod along with a smile, “Interesting… So do you go to school around here?”   
Marco looked at him and went slightly pink in the face as he looked down at the ground, “Aha… Well actually.. We go to the same school.. But we don’t have any classes together or anything.”   
Jean stared at him for a second before looking away and chuckling with embarrassment, “Oh.. Aha sorry.. I don’t usually pay attention.”   
Marco shrugged, “I’m not much of a person to be paid attention too.” He said with a small smile at Jean, who raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged, “Why would you say that?”   
“Oh well.. Because..I’m not anyone speci-”   
“That’s not true. Everyone has a purpose..No one is not special.”   
Marco stared at Jean for a moment before smiling and looking at the floor, “Oh.. Thank you, Jean. That means a lot.”   
Jean raised an eyebrow at him and turned away, “Don’t thank me. I shouldn’t have to say crap like that anyways.” 

 

After they finished up with cleaning up the place and locking up the both of them walked out together. Marco went to the side of the building and grabbed his bike from the stand. Jean also walked to his bike which was also on the stand.   
“Oh wow… That’s a beautiful bike..” Marco said, practically having stars in his eyes.   
Jean couldn't help but chuckle as he took the chain off and put it in the back he had. “Thanks. I bought it and fixed it up myself.”   
“Whaaat?! You found this? No way!”   
“Yep! I found it in the junkyard and bought it. Fixed it up, got new brakes on it and chains. I even polished it up and painted it.”  
“Wow.. Wish I could do something like that. In fact I wish I knew a lot more about mechanics in general…My dad always wants me in my room studying. He’s always afraid I won’t pass school.”   
JEan raised and eyebrow and asked, “And you’re not happy with that?”  
“No! Otherwise i’d be on my home right now to study.. I don’t want to be a lawyer.”   
“Then what do you want to be?”   
“I dunno. Something that i’ll be satisfied with. And I know being a lawyer won’t satisfy me or make me happy.”   
Jean could relate to everything that Marco was saying. Although his mom wanted him to be a doctor, but his father wanted him to go into the military like he had been. But Jean didn’t really want to do any of that. He wanted to do something that also made him happy. But maybe he was just being to picky. A lot of people want to do something that will make them happy. But unfortunately it doesn’t happen for a lot of people.   
Like his grandfather for example. His grandfather wanted to work with his father as a mechanic. But, once war broke out, he was forced to go out and fight with his three brothers. He was the only to to make it home. But not without a great cost. He lost not only a leg, but also his sight.   
“Well, I’m sure that you’ll eventually find out what you want to do. And hopefully in the end, your parents will be happy with your decision.” Jean said as he hopped on his bike, “Well… I suppose i’ll see you tomorrow at school, then?”   
Marco looked up at him putting his hat on followed by a smile, “Y-yea! See ya then!”   
Jean smiled and pushed away on his bike toward his house as Marco watched him go out of sight.


	3. School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean's arrival at school.

\- Part Four -   
Jean actually looked forward to the next day at school. He enjoyed actually meeting Marco. Jean wasn’t a very social kind of guy, so for him to actually want to see someone, it came as a shock to him. After giving his mother a kiss and his father a nod, Jean left with a piece of toast in his mouth. Getting to his bike he looked across the street to see some of the younger kids running to the bus stop that went to Maria Elementary School. Jean remembered going to school there. That’s where he first met that stupid Jaeger kid. But also where he met some of his closer friends such as Armin and Connie. Grabbing his bike, he pushed off the ground and started off toward Sina High School. The parking lot was filled with kids standing around and talking while smoking cigarettes and taking a swig of “water” here and there.   
Jean pedaled his way past all those people and got to the bike rack, upon hopping off his bike he chained it to the post and looked up only to see a familiar grey bike. It was Marco’s. Jean could tell from the rusty chains and the chipped grey paint. Looking around he didn’t see Marco anywhere. Maybe he was just hanging out with some of his friends or something. With a shrug he turned and walked toward where he and his friends usually met up before the bell rang for the day to begin. Armin and Eren were hunched over laughing really hard about something as usual while Sasha and Connie were sitting in the grass next to each other with hand in hand.   
Mikasa was sitting on the grass next to where it looked like Eren and Armin had been sitting before they stood up. As soon as Jean got close enough, Armin looked at him and smiled. Eren just gave him a short glance before plopping on the ground next to Mikasa and laying back looking up.  
“Good morning Jean! How’re you?!” Armin chimed with a smile.   
“Alright I suppose. No different than yesterday…” He said sitting on the ground by Connie and Sasha. Armin nodded agreeing and sat down as well.   
Jean looked around the crowd of students squinting to see if he could see Marco anywhere. A sudden poke in his arm made Jean turn to see a grinning Sasha.   
“Who’re you looking for, Jean? A girl?” She asked curiously.   
“Ah… No not exactly.. Just a friend..”   
“Oooohhh… A friend, eh?”   
“Not like that Sasha! Damn!”   
“Okay okay! Calm down, Jean I was just kidding anyway..”   
Jean rolled his eyes and looked back at the busy parking lot, still not seeing his freckled faced friend.   
After a moment of still scanning the crowd, the bell finally rang for school to begin. The doors to the school opened with the sound of groans and irritated students not wanting to be here. What else would you expect from a bunch of high schoolers getting ready to graduate?   
Jean and his group grabbed their belongings and made their way to their classes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter and late update. I'll try and update faster! Hope you guys enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys like it so far!


End file.
